The Meaning of Tai Chien Dojo

The Name

          Tai Chien Dojo means, a place to learn a way of personal development towards inner peace.  

          Tai is taken from the 11th hexagram of the I Ching meaning, peace.  Everything is subject to change.  It is how we deal with these changes is what gives us peace.  This builds character by keeping our inner nature strong and rich.

          Chien is taken from the 53rd hexagram of the I Ching meaning, development (slow progress.)  Tai Chien Dojo is not about how fast a student gets his/her next rank, rather it is about developing the individual into becoming the best person the student can be.  This incorporates many things and above all else the five maxims of: character, sincerity, effort, etiquette, and self-control.  Moreover, the emphasis is on the student making the rank not the rank making the student.

          Dojo is the school or area to train in.  For me, it is not a four-walled building rather it is wherever you are.  Do means, the way or path and jo means a place.  

Symbols and colors

          The fist represents karate and the color brown is all of humanity and all those who strive to better themselves.  

          The triangle represents the body, mind, and spirit and that each needs to be cultivated so that harmonious flow of peace throughout our life may be achieved.  The red means life force, purity, vitality and a celebration of life that is found in this peace we seek.

          The olive branch that encircles everything is filled with the color yellow to represent the power of all of nature and that true inner peace may be obtained with self-discipline and abiding in the principles of our Art.  Also the olive branch creates a circle to represents the cycles of all of nature’s events.